Budget

Annual budget process

Each year, the Village of Lytton plans its annual and five-year budgets to manage services, operations, projects, and investments in infrastructure on behalf of the community.

The Village collects revenues from property taxes, fees, and charges to provide services and manage infrastructure, such as water, sewer, and roads.

Village staff prepare the budget with guidance from the Village’s strategies and plans, leadership of Council and staff, and feedback from the community during the budget process and other community engagement throughout the year.

The Village is benefiting in 2024 from the generous grant from the Province of B.C. to supplement the property taxes, fees, and charges to enable the Village to re-establish core Village services following the 2021 fire, while navigating lower revenues from traditional sources.

Planning ahead

The Community Charter requires municipalities to adopt a five-year financial plan annually to support long-term strategic decision-making. The Village updates its financial plan annually to reflect changes in strategic priorities, timing for projects or initiatives, and emergent opportunities and community needs. Council can amend the plan throughout the year as new information becomes available.

Council adopted the initial 2024-2028 Five-Year Financial Plan Bylaw. 

Revenue sources

The Village, like other municipalities, relies on several funding sources to pay for the services that residents and business owners use regularly and rely on.

The largest source of revenue for the Village’s normal day-to-day operations is property taxes.

Other revenue sources include the following:

• Utility user fees (sewer and water charges)
• Other user fees (for example, sewer or water connection fees)
• Permit and licence fees (for example, building permit or business licence fees)
• Fire protection fees charged for providing services to neighbouring communities
• Annual Small Communities Grant from the Province of B.C.
• Investment income

Municipalities also have access to other forms of funding, which are generally used for capital projects. These include the following:

• Grants from the federal and provincial governments and their agencies
• Proceeds from borrowing (for example, for a large infrastructure project)
• Reserve funds (specific funds set aside by the Village for future projects)

Part of Council’s decision-making process each year is to determine what levels of funding for services should come from the various sources of revenue.

The Community Charter states that for local governments:

“The total of the proposed expenditures and transfers to other funds for a year must not exceed the total of the proposed funding sources and transfers from other funds for the year.” 

What this means is that the Village of Lytton (and other local governments) must have a balanced budget. Municipalities cannot finance operations with debt.

Recovery / rebuilding funding

The Village’s regular sources of funding for core services and infrastructure remain the same; however, since the 2021 fire, the federal and provincial governments have also committed significant funding towards Lytton’s recovery and rebuilding. 

Some of the funding ($700,000 per year for six years) goes towards the operating budget as Lytton re-establishes core functions in the Village. The remaining grants are dedicated specifically to recovery and rebuilding projects and activities.

Recovery funding includes the following: